Method of and machinery for hoisting



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

B. REYNOLDS, METHOD OF AND MACHINERY FOR HOISTING.

Patented Sept 12, 1893.

6 m n w m 5 (No Model.) v 2 Sheets-S1heet 2.

BY-Nous. METHOD OF AND MAUHINERY POR'HOISTING.

Patented Sept 12, 1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN REYNOLDS, OF MILWAUKEE, VVISGONSIN.

METHOD OF AND MACHINERY FOR HOISTING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 504,942, dated September 12, 1893,

Application filed April 4, 1893.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN REYNOLDS, a, citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hoisting Machinery and Methods of Operating the 1game, of which the following is a specifica- My invention relates to hoisting machinery, and comprises first a novel method of operating such machinery, and second a novel arrangement of devices whereby the action or work of the engine is rendered constant, and wherebyalso so much of the power of the engine as is not required to effect the elevation of the load is utilized simultaneously with such elevation for the compression of air or other useful purpose.

In hoisting machinery the engine must be capable of lifting the cage and its load from the bottom of the pit, and this, too, in addition to the weight of the suspending cable. Where the distance through which the load is lifted is considerable, the weight of the cable,-by means of which the cage and its load are suspended,-adds materially to the load to be lifted by the engine; and of course as the load ascends and the cable winds upon the hoisting drum, the work of the engine is decreased in proportion to the amount of cable thus wound up. Where two cages are employed,-one being lowered while the other is being raised,-there is a greater variation in the work of the engine,-the weight of the descending cage and its cable acting to lessen the power required to lift the ascending cage. The greatest Work is thrown upon the engine when the loaded cage is at its lowermost point, and if the power exerted by the engine upon the drum should remain constant throughout the ascent of the cage, the latter would acquire an accelerated speed proportionate to the winding of the cable on the drum, and the consequent decrease of load; or should it be desired to give to the cage a uniform rateof ascent, it would be necessary to Vary the power exerted upon the drum by the engine. A variation in the rate of ascent of the cage is objectionable, as is also a variation in the Work of the engine; there- Serial No. 468,987- (No model.)

fore, to overcome these difiioulties, and make the ascent of the cage uniform, and the work of the engine regular, and also to utilize the surplus energy of the engine which increases during the ascent of the cage, are the obgects of the present invention.

In carrying out my ideas, I combine with the hoisting engine, preferably an air-compressor, the effect or work of which increases proportionately as the lifting load on the engine decreases. The. air thus compressed will be stored in a receiver and used within the mine or elsewhere for operating rockdrills, hoisting engines, &c.

While I have shown and described and prefer to employ an air compressor, I do not w1sh to limit myself to such a mechanism or device, for obviously other mechanisms or devices which are capable of utilizing the surplus power of the engine, may be substituted.

In the preferred construction and arrangement which I have illustrated, the work or action of the air compressor is increased automatically as the cage ascends, by means of a cam which acts successively upon and opens the induction valves of the compressor. When the cage reaches its highest level, the compressor is thrown out of action by the resetting of its valves, and the brake is applied to the hoisting drum.

In the drawings,-Figure 1 is a top plan view of my improved mechanism; Fig. 2, a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the same; and Fig. 3, a view on a larger scale, showing the mechanism for actuating the valves of the compressor.

A indicates the hoisting drum, B the shaft or axle thereof, 0 the engine cylinders, andD the cranks upon the end of the drum-shaft, fitted to receive the connecting rods secured to the piston rods E,the said connecting rods being omitted from the drawings.

F F indicate the cylinders of the air compressors, and E E the rearward extensions of the piston rods of the engine, which serve also as, or are connected with, the piston rods of the air-compressor cylinders.

Gr G G and G are the induction valves of the air-compressor-cylinders which valves will be provided with the Reynolds or analogous valve gear.

H indicates a shaft provided with a heartshaped cam I and mounted in suitable uprights J J. At one end the shaft is threaded to engage a fixed nut K carried in the upright J, and is slotted longitudinally throughout the remainder of its length to receive a key or feather (not shown) carried by the bevel gearLwhichisjournaled in the upright J. This pinion L gears into a second bevel gear M on a shaft N, which latter shaft is provided with a bevel gear 0 to receive motion from a bevel gear P on the short upright shaft Q, Fig. 2. Shaft Q carries at its upper end a bevel gear It meshing with a bevel gear S on the cross shaft T, which latter receives motion from a bevel gear U on the drumshaft, through the gearing shown in Fig. 1, or other suitable intermediate connections. From this construction and arrangement it will be seen that the screw shaft H makes one complete revolution with each revolution of the drum, and it will also be observed that the said shaft with its cam I will be moved lengthwise as it rotates. This cam is design ed to set the valves G G G2 and G successively,-the point in the ascent of the cage at which these valves will be set for actuation depending upon the pitch of the threads on shaft H, or the relative location of the cam and the valve-controlling devices. Of course these valves may be arranged to come into action sooner or later in the ascent of the cage, but in the present instance they are set so as to come into action respectively when the cage has ascended one thousand, two thousand,

three thousand, and four thousand feet of the total ascent of say five thousand feet. The opening of these valves successively allows a greater amount of air to enter the compressor cylinders, and hence causes more Work to be thrown upon the compressing devices as the surplus energy of the engine increases.

Below the screw shaft H is a shaftV which is designed to rock or tip under certain conditions, and which is provided with radial arms or levers W, corresponding in number to the number of Valves, although only one is shown. Adjacent to these levers which project up in position to be struck by the cam I, and mounted upon the shaft V, are oppositelyprojecting arms Y and Z, which are connected respectively by rods (1 and b with elbow levers c and d; the said elbow levers being in turn connected by rods e and f with the Roynolds valve gear before referred to. Now when the cam I (turning with the hands of the clock) strikes the lever W it tips or rocks said lever to the left, and causes a shoulder g on the face thereof to engage the arm Y and carry'the latter a limited distance with it. This arm Y acting through the rod a, elbow lever c, and rod 6, throws the lug h of the valve gear from under the tail of the hook t, thereby permitting the said hook to engage with the valve arm. As the screw shaft turns, and with its cam moves lengthwise, the latter will come into contact with the second arm or lever W, whereupon the second valve G will be set for operation, in the manner just above described, and so on throughout the series of valves. When the rope for the descending cage is nearly unwound, and the rope for the ascending cage is nearly all Wound up on the drum, the cam I strikes a lever X pivoted in suitable, supports, and as said lever is connected with the shaft V by means of linkj and radial arm 70, the said shaft Will be turned or rotated slightly to the right and bring the lever W and the arm Y to their original positions; but as the arm Y thus moves, it will, acting through the connections a, c, and e, bring the lug h beneath the tail of the hook i of the valve gear and throw the latter out of action. Of course asall the arms Y and levers W are similarly mounted and connected, this partial rotation of the shaft V will effect the cutting out, simultaneously, of all the valves. At the same time that the lever X is rocked to throw all the valves out of action, it is made to operate the brake mechanism employed for holding the drum. Lever X is connected by link or rod Z with a hook m which engages a weighted elbow lever a, Fig. 2, said lever'nbeing connected by link 0 to a lever or arm 19 which controls the brake valve-mechanism.

The brake proper comprises merely a friction band (1 having its ends secured to arms projecting from a rockshaft or-said rockshaft being adapted to be turned by means of the long arms 8 which are acted upon by the rod of a piston (not shown) within the cylinder t; or in any other suitable manner.

I desire here to emphasize the fact that practically all of the mechanical structures herein shown and described may be modified orchanged without departing from my invention,-the various mechanisms herein shown being illustrative merely of one method of carrying my ideas into effect. Now, as a result of the operations before described, one cage has been raised, the other lowered, the air compressor brought into and then thrown out of action, and the brake applied to the drum. In order to throw the compressor into and out of action, and to apply the brake, the cam I has moved from near the support J over to the support J, and as the direction of rotation of the drum is reversed to lower the cage last raised, the direction of rotation of the shaft H will also be reversed, and the cam I on said shaft will be carried back to its original position near the support J. But in thus moving back to its normal position, it will strike the four arms W successively but in reverse order; that is to say, instead of striking the arm that serves to control the valve G, it now first strikes the arm that controls or actuates the valve G In order that the cam may actuate the valves on its backward travel, I provide the shaft V with the arms Z before referred to. Of course as the direction of ro- IIO tation of shaft H is reversed,the cam, upon striking the lever WV will throw said lever to the right and cause a shoulder a thereon to engage and rock'the lever Z, and through the connections 17, d, andf, throw the lug h from beneath the tail of the valve hook 'i. After the cam has acted upon or opened all of the valves, it strikes a leverc (Fig.1) corresponding to the lever X, and through suitable connections, rocks the shaft V and closes the valves, and also applies the brakes. The brake valve and the lever n are reset by means under the control of the engineer. The

- levers W and the armsYand Z are loose upon the shaft V, but the arms are slotted to receive, each, a key or feather w which limits the movement of said arms upon and independently of said shaft, and which affords a connection between the shaft and the arms for resetting the latter by turning the shaft.

Any mechanism or motor or combinations of mechanisms or motors which may be brought into action to utilize the surplus energy of the engine as herein described, may be substituted for the air-compressor; and in using the word motor I mean to include any device capable of receiving, or receiving and developing or applying force, motion, or power.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. Theherein described method of renderi'ng steady and uniform the action of hoisting machinery, which consists in diverting from the hoisting drum to other recipient during the hoisting operations a portion of the effective force of the engine substantially proportionate to the decrease of load to be lifted, due to the decrease in length of suspended cable, as the load ascends.

2. In combination with ahoisting drum and cable; an engine for actuating the drum; a secondary mechanism requiring power for its actuation; and connecting mechanism between the engine and said secondary mechanism, whereby power developed by the engine and not required to actuate the hoisting drum is diverted to and caused to actuate said secondary mechanism, thereby maintaining uniformity of action in the drum and engine and utilizing the full power of the latter.

3. In combination with a hoisting drum and an engine therefor; a mechanical motor adapted to be operatively connected with the engine and to be actuated by the surplus energy of the latter during the hoisting operation. 1

4:. In combination with a hoisting drum and an engine therefor; a mechanical motor adapted to be operatively connected with the engine; and intermediate connections for automatically diverting a portion of the effective force of the engine from the drum to the motor.

5. In combination witha hoisting drum and i an engine therefor; a mechanical motor adaptedto be operatively connected with the engine; and means forvarying the energy or effective force of the engine that isdiverted from the drum to the motor.

6. In combination with a hoisting drum and an engine therefor; a mechanical motor adapted to be operatively connected with the engine during the hoisting; a brake mechanism for the drum; and means whereby the motor; shall be disconnected and the brake applied.

7. In combination with a hoisting drum and an engine therefor; an air-compressor adapted to be actuated by the engine; and means for throwing the compressor into action during the hoisting and out of action when the hoisting is completed.

8. In combination with a hoisting drum and an engine therefor; an air-compressor adapted to be actuated by the engine during the hoisting; and means whereby the effective Work of the compressor is increased asthe hoisting load decreases.

9. In combination with a hoisting drum and an engine therefor; an. air-compressor adapted to be actuated by the engine during the hoisting; a series of valves for the compressor; and means for setting said valves successively.

10. In combination with a hoisting dru and an engine therefor; an air-compressor adapted to be actuated by the engine during the hoisting; a series of valves for the compressor; and a shaft H geared to rotate with the drum and provided with a cam I for setting the valves. 1

11. In combination with a hoisting drum and an engine therefor; an air compressor adapted to be actuated by the engine during the hoisting and provided with valves; a brake mechanism for the drum; and a screw shaft having a cam to set the valves of the compressor and the brake-mechanism.

12. In combination with a hoisting drum and an engine therefor; an air-compressor, provided with a valve and its gear; a rotatable screw shaft H provided with a slot and a cam and engaging a fixed nut; a shaft V; lever WV mounted thereon to be struck by the cam; arm Y also mounted upon the shaft,

ICC

and adapted to be moved by the lever; and

connections between said arm and the valve ear. b 13. In combination with a hoisting drum and an engine therefor; an air compressor provided with a valve and its gear; a screw shaft H adapted to turn in both directions and provided with a cam I; a second shaft V; lever W mounted thereon; oppositely-extending arms Y and Z also mounted upon shaft V and adapted to be actuated by the lever W; and connections between the arms and the valve gear. I

14:. In combination with the screw shaft having a cam I; the shaft V having the loose lever W; the arm Y having its hub slotted to receive a keyon shaft V, and adapted to be actuated by the lever W; and a lever X eoneylinders and, operating the air-eexnpresspr nected with shaftV and arranged in the path pistons. H of the cam. In witness whereof I hereunto, set my hand 15. In combination with a hoisting drum in the presence of two, witnesses. 5 and an engine therefor; an air-compressor EDWIN REYNO S- having its cylinders arranged in line with the Witnesses: engine cylinders, the piston rods being ex- 4 F. A. LARKIN,

tended through the rear ends of the engine THEO. A. SCHROEDER, 

